We lost a giant on the American legal landscape when the Honorable Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away. 

Justice Ginsburg was one of only four women to ever serve on the highest court of the land. Appointed by President Bill Clinton, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed and seated in 1993 to fill a seat vacated by Justice Byron White. 

Before she was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, she was on the federal bench. She was one of America’s top civil rights attorneys before President Carter appointed her to the federal bench in 1980. She spent her life championing for the rights of the underdog.

Ginsburg spent a considerable part of her legal career as an advocate for the advancement of gender equality and women’s rights, winning multiple arguments before the Supreme Court.

For several years, she advocated as a volunteer attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsels in the 1970s.

Ginsburg created the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU and participated in over 300 gender discrimination cases by 1974. As the director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, she argued six gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court between 1973 and 1976, winning five.

She came to be known as the “Notorious R.B.G.” because of her fiery liberal dissents and refusal to step down (a play on the name of the rapper known as “The Notorious B.I.G.” also known for his unwillingness to back down).

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was committed to civil liberties and civil rights. Her presence on the United States Supreme Court was essential. The road ahead will be difficult without her. This is a great loss to the country.